Gate operating means



June so, 1931. H. L. BROWN 1,812,735

GATE OPERATING MEANS F iled June 9, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 J a um" lll mlllllil inll mumm- INVENTOR 07/ Z. Eran 4 ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Z)"[.Br0W/a,

ATTORNEY June 30, 1931. H. L. BROWN GATE OPERATING MEANS Filed June 9, 1930 Patented June 30, 1931 PATENT OFFICE HENRY L. 'BEowN, or cHArrAN'ooGA, TENNESSEE GATE OPERATING MEANS Application filed. June 9, 1930. Serial No. 459,972.

This invention relates to openers for gates, doors and the like'and more particu larly to vehicle operated devices of this char acter. v 5 'A primary object of the invention is to so construct an opener of this character that it may be actuated by a lever, which lever afterjo nce it-is operated may be operated in the same direction any number it of times without affectingthe opening mech anism and which only becomes operative when the lever is movedv in the opposite direction.

Another object of the invention is to so "construct a gate opening or other object operating mechanism that a single lever may be employed for actuating it in both directions and which is automatically restored to operative position after it has been actuated by the passage of a vehicle thereover or otherwise and which isso constructed that an ignorant driver or other person cannot injure the'device by moving it in the'wrong direction.

In carrying out these objects, the invention is susceptible of. a wide range of modificatio'n without departing from the spirit or sacrificinganyof "the advantages of the claimed invention; there being shown in "to the drawings forwillustrative purposes a preferred and practical form, in which: I

Figure l repres'en'ts a plan view-of-this im'proved' gate operating apparatus shown applied; Y

Fig. 2, is a vertical section taken on the line 22 of Fig.1; Y

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the operating mechanism; Fig. 4 is an end elevation thereof; 1 Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig.3;,

Fig. 6; isaview taken "on line- 6-6 of 'Fig. 3; i Fig. 7 is a similar view taken on the line 45 7+7 of Fig.3 I

Fig. 8is a detail perspective of 'thecam connecting member. r

.In the embodiment illustrated the device g, "is shown as a g'ate operating mechanism al- "56 thoiigh obvious'ly it"may beused for open- "sage of following ing doors, throwing switches and for other purposes. One'of these devices is shown located at each side of the gate and being exactly alike one only will be described in detail. Each mechanism comprises a shaft 1 rotatably mounted in suitable bearings 2 mounted on bases 3 of any desired construction. This shaft 111% a crank portion 5 designed to be located in the path of vehicles which pass through the opening closed by the gate 50. This crank portion 5 is normally in upright position as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 and when contacted by the wheels of the vehicle is forced down into or wheel 6 which is provided on one face thereof with laterally extending lugs 7. which are designed to cooperate with simhorizontal position and thereby opens or ilar lugs 9 on a disk or wheel 8 loosely mounted on shaft 1 as shown clearly in Figs. 2 and 3. These lugs 7 and 9 which are designed for interlocking engagement when the shaft'is-turned in one direction or the other are solocated in relation to each other that after-thegate has been shut by the passage over the crankportion 5 thereof of the vehicle the member 8 will remain in the'positlon where it was placed by the turning of the shaft and the engagement of the lugs 77 with the lugs 9 thereofand the wheel 6 under the action of'the mechanism now to be' described will move freely so vthat lugs? will pass away from lugs 9 without affecting the position of wheel 8 so that the shaft 1,may rock back and forth with out changing. the position of the "gate 50 with which the member 8 is connected. This is due to the space which is provided be tween the lugs on the two members 6 and 8 and which is in the nature of a dental coup ling thereby providingsuflicient lost motion between the wheel trip member 6 and the gate throw member'S toprovide for the pasthe position of the gate.

vehicles without affecting "ion As shown a rod 20 connects the two gate operating mechanisms with each other and with the gate 50 although obviously other suitable means may be employed. The means connected with the gate 50 and with the rod 20 for swinging the gate to open or closed position when the vehicle operated means is actuated is indicated at and may be of any desired construction. It constitutes no part of the invention and hence it is not deemed necessary to show a detailed construction thereof.

Mounted on one of the base plates 3 over the outer end of shaft 1 are two upstanding inverted V-shaped braces or standards 10 and 11 in which is journalled a shaft 12. Carried by said shaft are two sleeve members or sockets 13 and 14: designed to receive connecting rods 15 and 16 connected respectively with the fixed wheel or disk 6 and the loose disk 8. Coiled springs 17 and 18 are carried. respectively by rods 15 and 1G. The connecting rod 15 has a collar 15a thereon against which one end of the coiled spring 17 abuts while the other end thereof extends into the socket member 13 and abuts against the bottom of the socket therein.

The rod 16 has a yoke-shaped head 19 the arms of which are pivotally connected with av link or lever 21 carried by the member 8 and which as shown is fixedly connected with said member being either made integral therewith or rigidly secured thereto in any suitable manner. The coiled spring 18 abuts at one end against the yoke head 19 and at its other end against the bottom of the socket in the member 14: and exerts its tension to hold the member 8 in the position into which it is thrown by turning of the shaft 1 incident to the passage of a vehicle over the said crank portion of said shaft and which is effected by engagement of the cooperating lugs 7 and 9 011 the fixed and movable members 6 and 8.

The coiled spring 17 exerts its tension to return the shaft 1 to initial position after the passage of the vehicle so that an oncoming vehicle when engaging the crank portion 5 and turning the shaft 1 will not affect the position of the member 8 and thereby allow the gate 50 to remain in open position.

The connecting rod 15 has a head 22 with an opening 23 therein which is designed to fit over a correspondingly shaped lug 241 made integral with a. boss 25 carried by the memher 6. This boss 25 which is shown made integral with the disk 6 is eccentrically arranged relatively to the shaft 1 as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 5 and the bolt 26 which connects the head 22 with the lug 24 has a washer 27 arranged thereon whereby the head is clampingly and securely held engaged with the boss. This eccentric connection of the head with the wheel adapts the spring 17 to return and hold the shaft 1 normally with the crank portion 5 in vertical position. An arm 21 extends radially from wheel 8 and is connected with rods 20 and 16 by a bolt 21a.

The spring pressed rod 16 of the disk wheel 8 operates to hold the member 8 in the position to which it is forced on the turning. of the shaft 1 by the passage of a vehicle over the crank portion 5 which movement operates to open the gate.

In the operation of this device the parts being in the position shown in Fig. l with the gate closed the crank portion 5 of the shaft 1 will be in vertical position and the lever or arm 21 over the center on one side of the upright and held in this position by the coiled spring 18 and in which position the gate is held closed.

When a. vehicle approaches and contacts the crank 5 it forces said crank down and into horizontal position turning the drive shaft 1 and causing lugs 7 on the fixed disk 6 to engage those 9 on the movable disk 8 thereby turning said disk 8 and throwing the lever 21 on the opposite side of the center of gravity. This moves rod 20 longitudinally and pulls the gate lever to position for opening the gate, and it is held in open position by means of the spring 18. The disk 6 is returned to initial position by the coil spring 17 without its lugs engaging those on the member 8 due to the proper spacing of the lugs on the two members. It will thus be seen that the drive shaft 1 may be operated in the same direction any number of times without any further effect on the gate opening mechanism until the latter is operated in the opposite direction. This provides for the passage of following vehicles over the eccentric or crank 5 in the same direction after the gate mechanism has been actuated to open the gate without in any way affecting such mechanism.

When the eccentric or crank shaft 5 is moved in the opposite direction by a vehicle coming that way the lugs 7 on disk 6 will engage those 9 on disk 8 and throw the lever 21 past the center of the opposite side of the center of gravity and thus exert a pulling action on the gate lever which will cause the gate to be closed. The gate will be held in this position by the coil spring 18 until the drive shaft is again operated in the opposite direction.

It is of course understood that the two gate operating mechanisms, located one on eachside of the gate, are designed one to open the gate as the vehicle approaches in one direction and the other to close it as the vehicle passes through and leaves the gate. The two are shown connected by the rod 20 which is also connected with the gate by any suitable actuating means as is indicated in Fig. 1. Thus when the vehicle passes through in the reverse or opposite di-' rection the mechanism that formerly shut the gate will open it, and the one that formerly opened it will close it.

The gist of the invention resides in the lost motion provided between the members 6 and 8 which permits the crank member 5 to be operated in the same direction any number of times after it has been once turned to open the gate and this-permits the use of a single wheel trip thereby avoiding the trouble which has been encountered with gates having two trip levers.

It is of course understood that the form illustrated shows one means of providing a loose coupling between the wheel operated lever and the gate controlling mechanism to allow the former to return to upright position without operating the gate throwing mechanism.

While the return of the crank member 5 to vertical position is here shown accomplished by the use of springs it is of course understood that other equivalents may be used for this purpose.

The use of this mechanism prevents ignorant drivers from running over the wrong eccentric because there is only one and if the driver should pass in the wrong direction it will only be pushed to horizontal position with no effect on the gate opening mechanism, and upon the passage of the vehicle it will immediately assume vertical position ready for the next actuation. This avoids all danger of the opener being injured.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will, of course, be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, withoutwdeparting from the spirit of the invention or its scope as claimed.

I claim:

1. A gate operating mechanism comprising a crank shaft with the crank portion thereof located in the path of passing vehicles, a member fixed to said shaft, a cooperating member loose on said shaft, gate opening means connected With said loose member and interengaging elements carried by said members and so spaced as to provide lost motion between the members to permit member, interengag'ing elements carried by said members and so spaced as to provide lost motion between the members to permit one member to be moved relatively to the other after its first actuation without affecting said member, and means for holding said members in operative position, said loose member being connected with the gate opening means.

3. In a gate operating mechanism, a crank shaft, with the crank portion located in the path of passing vehicles, two members mounted on said shaft, one being fixed thereto and the other movable thereon, cooperating lugs on the opposed faces of said members and spaced in relation to each other so that when after the fixed member operates the movable member it may be turned in the same direction any number of times without affecting the movable member, and a gate opener connected with said movable member.

4. In a gate operating mechanism, a crank shaft with the crank portion located in the path of passing vehicles, two members mounted on said shaft, one being fixed thereto and the other movable thereon, cooperating lugs on the opposed faces of said mem bers and spaced in relation to each other so that when after the fixed member operates the movable member it may be turned in the same direction any number of times without affecting the movable member, a gate opener connected with said movable member, and resilient means for holding said members in operative position. 1

HENRY L. BROWN. 

